Why Data Dashboards for Game Analytics Must Evolve in 2025

data dashboards in game analytics, featured image, keewano

Data dashboards have come a long way, especially in game development. Analysts have benefitted from their high customizability and broad range of metrics. But today, it’s not enough.

Do these dashboards tell the full story of where your game might be going wrong? Maybe they highlight your churn rate or where players are dropping off. But do they explain why?

The most advanced analytics tools have AI capabilities. So they aren’t just presenting data and trends; they’re translating them. They can explain to developers where, why, and how their game needs improvement. And game companies must leverage these tools to keep up…

Data Dashboards in Game Analytics: Statistics

In 2024, the global dashboard software market was worth about $5.9 Billion. By 2033, it’s projected to be worth about $14.4 Billion, growing at a CAGR of 10.8%. Some of these contributing factors include big data and analytics.

data dashboards market share, keewano

Globally, close to 7.5 million companies use dashboards in some shape or form. Google Analytics has a whopping 89.85% market share. Other widely used dashboard tools include Hotjar (4.13%), Notion (1.31%), Datadog (1.11%), and Tableau (0.72%).

Alongside this, the game analytics tools market is currently valued at $9.22 Billion. It’s expected to reach $43.4 Billion by 2032 (with a CAGR of about 21.37% from 2024 to 2032).

Coincidentally, all game analytics platforms include data dashboards. And many game companies depend on data-driven insights to:

  • Improve player engagement
  • Optimize game performance
  • Enhance monetization strategies.

These markets are rising in parallel. This means that game analysts don’t just need tools to visualize data. They also need to predict future outcomes and provide clear, actionable insights.

The Problem with Today’s Data Dashboards

Naturally, data analysts are the gatekeepers of the dashboard. But it’s the CXOs who make the big business decisions. In gaming, these are game directors, executives, and product managers.

According to Andrew Bartholomew:

“Good dashboards are opinionated. A good dashboard communicates, ‘These things matter; these other things don’t.’ A bad dashboard throws everything on the page and forces the user to decide what is important.” 

Today’s dashboards aren’t bad per se. But many aren’t designed to maximize game analytics’ full potential.

It’s common to present lots of data to those high up in a game company. But at the end of the day, how much do they understand? Dashboards give us lots of numbers, charts, and graphs. But they don’t necessarily translate them into words and ideas. 

Game developers and analysts constantly ask themselves:

  • What do these churn rates tell us about XYZ about a game?
  • What can we learn from these crucial game metrics?
  • Where are players getting stuck in their user flow?
  • Which levels/missions are causing most players to drop off?

Data dashboards should be able to answer these questions clearly and instantly.

Here are some reasons why traditional data dashboards fall short:

  • Data Overload: Collecting data and making sense of it is challenging. Data dashboards notoriously overwhelm users with excessive charts and metrics.
  • Inadequate Insights: Developers struggle to understand how data reflects their game’s performance. They need recommendations to optimize their title, not numbers.
  • Lack of Context: You can have all the numbers and charts in the world to show what players did. But why did they make that gaming decision? We need context.
  • Static Information: Updates can be out of date, making it difficult to respond in real time to trends.
  • Way Too Manual: Analysts spend too much time on dashboards without automation features.

So what do tomorrow’s data dashboards need for game analysts to shine?

The Next Generation of Data Dashboards

Tomorrow’s data dashboards will evolve in purpose. High-quality data visualization is essential. But you also need a dashboard that drives action. A great game analytics dashboard should deliver these three things:

1. Valuable Insights

Instead of presenting a graph or user flow, dashboards should explain what they mean. They need to translate trends.

Example: Dashboard presents a player retention drop of 7% this month. This visualization includes a pop-up: “This is because 456 players dropped off on Levels 4 and 5, suggesting they found them too difficult.”

2. Actionable Recommendations

The dashboard should also provide recommendations. Developers need to know how to resolve the highlighted issues.

Example: “Consider adjusting the difficulty. Include more energy boosters and reduce enemy spawn rates.”

3. Business Projections

The data dashboards of tomorrow shouldn’t just break down what happened and why. It should also be able to predict what will happen if you follow these recommendations. 

Example: Making Levels 4 and 5 easier is projected to boost retention by 9%. This will increase player lifetime value, leading to a $65,000 rise in revenue.

Predictive analytics is a huge contributing factor to the rapid growth of game analytics tools’ market value.

AI’s Potential Impact on Data Dashboards

To make these three things possible, AI can lay the foundation for tomorrow’s data dashboards. Through sophisticated algorithms, this advanced technology can automate data analysis. This allows game analysts to provide the most relevant insights much faster.

Replace Generic Data Dashboards with Clear Answers

Some tools are leading the way in making real-time data visualization clearer and more precise.

Keewano’s a prime example. This cutting-edge AI agent turns generic data dashboards into dynamic insight generators. Keewano processes 265 million events per second to deliver actionable recommendations. This includes for:

  • Fixing churn patterns
  • Balancing in-game economies
  • Optimizing player flows.

Other relevant tools include:

  • Amplitude: AI-powered insights for trend analysis.
  • Mixpanel: AI-driven funnel tracking and real-time dashboards.
  • Loops: Uses AI to identify causal relationships in player data.
  • Quago: Analyzes in-game data for insights on player churn and cheating.
  • UnitQ: Dashboards analyze user feedback.

Don’t Just Scratch the Surface of Game Analytics

Yes, you need a customizable data dashboard to provide the most relevant numbers. But that won’t fill in all your game’s gaps.

You can save so much time if your dashboard is AI-driven, built on high-speed database performance, and highly automated. 

Instead of interpreting raw data, get to the root of your game’s issues. Adopt a tool that translates trends into action points that truly impact long-term success.

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